Let's See What This Galaxy-Class Ship Can Do

Story: Encounter at Farpoint
Written By: D.C. Fontana and Gene Roddenberry
Series: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Year: 1987

The films proved popular enough to bring Star Trek back to regular television. But getting the original cast tied back down to television would have been virtually impossible, and a bad move in any regard. So a new cast, new ship, new everything would have to be created. Roddenberry had been sort of sidelined when it came to the films, so here was his chance to reclaim his creation. In a way his weak moves on the first film had kind of proved he needed to be sidelined.
As for the characters, in the first episode its pretty hit or miss. Patrick Stewart and John de Lancie are about the only ones acting really well in the pilot. Everyone is sort of figuring it out. Riker, Dr. Crusher, and Data are the only other characters that seem to be built with room for character development. Troi also would fit into that category, but she is also the WORST actor in the whole pilot. She only marginally improves beyond this pilot.

The pilot itself is DULLSVILLE. A boring mystery, of which most of the mystery is Troi telling us something mysterious she feels in a very aggravating way: PAIN! PAIN! or JOY…The only good story is from Q, a character that belongs to TNG, despite any appearances on other series. Other than that it’s a bad episode, it sets up a lot fo the series, but most won’t pay off for a long time, if they ever did.

NEXT TIME: Let’s see what’s out there…